Letter from Ismail Merchant, Mumbai, India, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1967 October 10 : autograph manuscript signed.

Describing a strange encounter with a "Mr. Hakim," from whom Merchant hoped to rent office space [probably the same person as "Dr. Hakim" described in Ivory's letter of October 9-- see MA 23840.378], where Hakim inquired about Merchant's body hair and moles and exclaimed "I must do research on you and examine you in my laboratory"-- "I started having visions of myself tied by ropes on a straight table with all sorts of needles and wires around me"; saying he's pleased the script [presumably for "The Guru"] is progressing, and that he plans to be in Delhi on the 15th, to leave for London on the 19th, and be in New York by the 20th; thanking her for the gift of a doll for a girl named Nasreen [possibly one of Merchant's nieces].